Pete Waterman’s final Making Tracks models Blisworth on the West Coast Main Line

Pete Waterman and the Railnuts are taking Making Tracks 6 to the 2026 Great Electric Train Show with a final build that looks more rooted in place than any of the earlier giants. The 64ft layout will model Blisworth on the West Coast Main Line, using a full-scale model of the original station site, the station hotel, the nearby canal and the railway crossing onto a long embankment with bridges.

Blisworth opened in 1838, closed on 4 January 1960 and sat as a junction station on the London and Birmingham Railway and the London and North Western Railway network. The site sits five miles south of Northampton, and its position on one of Europe’s busiest mixed-traffic railway routes gives the model a believable stream of inter-city, commuter, regional and freight working even before a train enters the scene.

Making Tracks 6 is a two-track main line with a large amount of scenic modelling, which is a different job from a train parade packed with eras and destinations. Station, hotel, canal and embankment each need enough room to read as Blisworth, not as a generic WCML backdrop squeezed onto a show baseboard.

Waterman and the Railnuts first built the series as a 64ft by 12ft summer exhibition at Chester Cathedral in 2021 and 2022, then moved on to West Coast Main Line subjects including Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction. A 136ft Milton Keynes and Watford Junction layout was lined up for Model World LIVE in April 2026, while Making Tracks 5 had already been delayed from a 2025 debut because of the amount of work involved.

The Great Electric Train Show is set for October 10 and 11 at Arena MK, also listed as Marshall Arena, in Milton Keynes, with more than 30 hand-picked model railways, more than 50 trade stands and advance entry from 9.30am for ticket holders.